U.S. agriculture chief announces $4 million for Maine solar projects

Jul. 26—BRUNSWICK — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on Friday more than $4 million in grants and a loan guarantee to advance solar and heat pump projects in Maine.

Vilsack joined Gov. Janet Mills, U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, at a ceremony at the Brunswick Farmers Market to celebrate Maine's agricultural industry and the small farms that power it. Vilsack touted the federal program as an effort to help family farms cut costs.

Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa, said federal agriculture policy aims to develop "climate smart" practices that help reduce farms' energy costs and seek to spur market demand for sustainably made products.

A federal initiative, the Rural Energy for America Program, helps agricultural producers and rural small-business owners make energy efficiency improvements and expand their use of wind, solar, geothermal and small hydropower energy. In Maine, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced funding for 42 projects as varied as a fitness center, an auto repair business and an oyster farm.

Unlike others who advise farmers they must enlarge their businesses or quit, Vilsack said this policy is different. "It's get climate smart, it's get entrepreneurial, it's get local," he said.

The money for Maine farms and businesses is part of $163 million in loans, grants and technical assistance to support 338 clean energy projects in 39 states and Guam. Many projects are funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark 2022 law that made hundreds of billions of dollars available to advance clean energy in the U.S.

Almost half of the funding awarded to projects in Maine is going into a $1.9 million loan guarantee to build a solar project in West Gardiner, which banned certain solar developments last year. The project has agreements to connect to Central Maine Power's grid, is expected to produce 994,230 kilowatt-hours of electricity in the first full year of operation and create one job paying $40 an hour.

Details were not immediately available about the beneficiary of the loan guarantee, West Gardiner SPV LLC, or when the project will begin operating. When residents voted to ban solar farms and grid-scale energy storage projects, three were in the approval stage, said Greg Couture, chairman of the select board. This was among them and is exempt from the ordinance.

"If you tell them 'No,' you put yourself in a bind," he said.

About $2.4 million in grants for Maine are earmarked for 41 projects for small businesses, including farms, to install rooftop and ground-mounted solar projects, low-energy lighting, heat pump systems and technical assistance to advance clean energy projects. The grants range from $272,767 for a fitness center in Kittery to $5,823 to install an LED lighting system for Northpoint Holdings LLC in Northport.

The fitness center, Coastal Fitness, does business as Semper Fitness, a veteran-owned business, said Katrina Shaw, state energy coordinator at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Office in Bangor. The project will reimburse up to 50% of the cost to install a 162-kW rooftop solar project, the federal agency said. It's expected to save $27,700 a year and will replace the company's entire energy use, or 200,482 kWh a year.

Donny Pexton, assistant manager at Coastal Fitness, said Friday that the building is 8,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet and the center is open about 21 hours a day. He expects the project will "take a while," but said he doesn't know when installation will begin.

Federal money is being used to help other groups seek more funding from Washington. The Island Institute, a Rockland organization providing economic development assistance to coastal and island communities, will receive $150,000 to help recruit and engage rural small businesses and agricultural producers to apply for federal grants to improve energy efficiency and advance renewable energy. The project will focus on applicants in distressed or disadvantaged communities.

Coastal Enterprises Inc., a community development financial institution, is receiving $100,000 for the same work. Loans are available at 3.25% if federal grants fall short, CEO Betsy Biemann said.

The Rural Energy for America Program has made available more than $2.2 billion for 7,566 renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, the Department of Agriculture said. Federal officials say the projects will help farmers and small businesses in rural areas reduce energy bills by an average of $25,000 a year.

Copy the Story Link